STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7792
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 15, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BENEDETTO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing a rebuttable
presumption of a hate crime when certain crimes are committed on, in
or upon a house of worship
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 485.05 of the penal law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
3 2-a. Any crime committed as defined in subdivision three of this
4 section that occurs on, in or upon a house of worship creates a rebutta-
5 ble presumption that it is a hate crime.
6 § 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 4 of section 485.05 of the penal
7 law, as amended by chapter 8 of the laws of 2019, is amended and a new
8 paragraph (d) is added to read as follows:
9 (c) the term "gender identity or expression" means a person's actual
10 or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression,
11 or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to
12 that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being
13 transgender[.];
14 (d) "House of worship" shall mean any structure or site used primarily
15 as a place of worship on a permanent basis by a recognized and estab-
16 lished religious sect or denomination provided, however, that this defi-
17 nition shall not include any religious site or structure used as a:
18 school, college, hospital or other similar structure or site that is not
19 used primarily for religious worship.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10977-01-3
